Two Khajiit and a Dog
by RennyBanette
Summary: Two Khajiit and a dog explore and experience Skyrim and Solstheim. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Raven Rock, Home

Hi guys! I've been playing _Skyrim_ for a while now - well, a few weeks anyway - and since I love the game so much, I've decided to make a one-shot series based on some of my adventures in-game.

These one-shots are only loosely based on my experiences, although the Dragonborn character in this story shares the same name, species and appearance as my Dragonborn character from the game itself. Her personality is an entirely different matter, though she will be similar to how I imagine my game character to be.

Anyway, I have to warn you all right now, if I accidentally mess up any of the NPC's names or whatever, it's . . . probably not gonna be my fault. There's a lot of names and a lot of different characters, and I can only remember those who I have a soft spot for (such as M'aiq the Liar) or those who I talk to on a regular basis (such as Captain Veleth). Sometimes, like right now, I'll be writing without access to internet and the unfortunate consequence of that is I won't be able to cross-check any spellings or whatever, so if anyone comes across any names or words that I've spelt wrong, please inform me and I'll get to fixing it as soon as I can.

But moving from that as well - my style of writing, when I'm creating a story with a clear plot and multiple chapters, is to write it all and then upload the full finished version. But since this is a series of one-shots and it's likely that it'll go on forever, I'll just be uploading when each chapter is done, or if there's a two-parter or whatever, I'll upload whenever that particular plot is over.

So, let's get on with the new insanity that I'm writing!

I don't own _The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim_ , on with the show!

 **OOOOOO**

Raven Rock was a nice place to live, Kharjo reflected.

Quite apart from the fact that it was so much warmer than Skyrim, the people who called Raven Rock - and Solstheim in general - their home were much nicer than the Nords. For one thing, the Dunmer didn't constantly say racist slurs such as 'cat' or 'kitty' towards Khajiit such as himself or his friend. For another, the guards did not say things like 'what do you want, cat' every single time he approached one with a concern or just to have a conversation.

Perhaps, he thought, it was because the Dunmer also knew what it was like to be treated with such disrespect.

But then he also supposed it could have something to do with the fact that his friend had saved the entire settlement, plus Solstheim itself, twice over. First from the creatures the Dunmer called Ash Spawn, and then from that horrible Dragon Priest, Miraak.

Whatever it was that made these Dunmer treat them as actual people instead of beasts, Kharjo found himself thinking of Raven Rock as a second home because of it.

Although you would always get the occasional moron who, though they were not racist towards him or his friend, were always keen to cause trouble.

One of the Dunmer who lived in the settlement, one that Kharjo did not know by name but rather by sight, had spotted him in the market buying supplies - meat and food and, of course, potions - for his friend, and had apparently seen that as an opportunity to cause some trouble. He had said, rather inaccurately, that Kharjo was doing all the work while his 'lazy friend' stayed at home doing nothing all day. He had also implied that Kharjo followed her, not for gratitude, but for something else entirely.

Now, this Dunmer was a worker at the mine, and Kharjo's friend had a slightly unsettling habit of taking slights such as those very personally, and if he had told her, this whole thing could have ended in blood.

And it would have, too, because Kharjo had spotted Captain Veleth nearby with murder in his eyes.

But Kharjo, despite being a warrior, was a peaceful Khajiit, and so he very calmly informed the naysayer that his friend was in fact staying at home, in the Severin Manor, because she was working on improving his Steel mace - not because Kharjo asked her to, but because she wanted to. He was simply buying supplies for her because she was too occupied with her new project to think about food and supplies.

That shut the naysayer up immediately, which thankfully also pacified Captain Veleth.

Honestly, the nerve of some people. But at least there were those like the good Captain who would defend Kharjo and his friend's honour.

He made it back to the Manor with no more incidents (aside from spotting some of the Redoran Guard sneaking Emberbrand wine on-duty again, which he would have to report to Captain Veleth later), and opened the front door with only a little difficulty. He only had one hand free, after all, and the doors - not to mention the shells that housed the antechambers of the buildings - were made of quite heavy material.

His friend was not in the antechamber, which - like most of the Dunmer homes in Raven Rock - consisted of several barrels, some urns, straw, a table full of food, a cooking fire at the back of the room and a giant hole that opened up to stairs leading down into the lower floor of the house in the middle of the room.

The house was relatively silent, however, which told him that she was likely finished with working on his mace. Kharjo placed the food and various other supplies onto the table, making sure to be careful of the skull that his friend had placed there did not get knocked off in the process (she collected skulls for some reason, and often displayed them on any surface she could find - thankfully these skulls were clean, so Kharjo was fine with one being on the table they ate from).

Then he went down the stairs into the lower floor of the Severin Manor, and found his friend going through one of the sacks that contained her Soul Gems - the one with _filled_ Soul Gems, he assumed, judging by the faint glow he saw from inside the sack - with his mace settled on the floor next to her.

"Zaliki," he greeted, "we have food."

His friend, Zaliki, glanced up. She was an odd Khajiit - practically albino aside from her black muzzle and striped war paint, along with icy blue eyes. Her face would have been unmarked had it not been for the three long claw-like scars on her muzzle. She also tied her pale hair up in various knots. The Nords would probably call those 'dreadlocks', whatever that meant. When on adventures, she often wore her Stalhrim light armour, gifted to her from the Skaal as a thank-you for all that she had done for them, but most of the time she simply wore various clothes.

Today, those were her tavern clothes. She seemed to like them, for some reason. But no matter what she wore, Zaliki always kept her weapons on her, a fact which was confirmed when Kharjo glanced at the quiver of arrows and the Stalhrim bow propped up against the wall beside her. She also always wore a copper circlet with three green gemstones embedded into it, which she said boosted her archery skills. Somehow.

"Sweet rolls?" Zaliki asked, tilting her head at him.

"Of course, and taffy also," Kharjo replied, before she could ask. "However, the meat was in short supply because Garyn has yet to receive his weekly delivery, but he says that he will have more tomorrow. Or we could go hunting for Netch again."

"Zaliki is sick of Netch meat, we can wait," Zaliki decided.

"We are agreed." Kharjo shuddered. Eating Netch meat while they were exploring Solstheim was one thing, but it was not something they would willingly do while at home.

The jelly those strange floating creatures produced was, according to Zaliki, very good for creating paralysis potions. Kharjo's only objection to that specific potion was that Zaliki had (by accident, of course) hit him with a paralysis-tipped arrow once and he had no wish to repeat such an experience.

"So, what is this one doing now? I can see you are finished with my mace," Kharjo said, crouching beside his friend.

"Zaliki is looking for a Grand Soul Gem," Zaliki informed him. "She wonders if you would also like your weapon enchanted? Zaliki was thinking of the fire enchantment, or frost if this one does not mind."

"Oh?" Kharjo was interested. He had only ever considered an improved weapon, never an enchanted one, but he remembered that Zaliki also carried a Glass greatsword for close combat, which she had enchanted with fire. "I would prefer a fire enchantment, though I did not expect this."

"This one does not wish for an enchantment?"

"No, it is just that I had not considered it before," Kharjo corrected her. "But dealing out extra damage could be useful for taking down our . . . many enemies."

"Something which is not Zaliki's fault," Zaliki deadpanned. "Things attack us because they do."

"You are a walking disaster area and you know it," Kharjo countered. "But, yes, I would like a fire enchantment. Frost seems too cold."

Zaliki gave him a look that she usually reserved for simpletons and idiots.

"I know how stupid that sounds, thank you," Kharjo sighed.

"Just so this one is aware," Zaliki replied. "So, fire enchantment. To make it last longer, Zaliki is using a Grand Soul Gem."

"You only used a Greater Soul Gem on your greatsword." Kharjo frowned as she took out one of the most impressive-looking Gems in the sack. "And you have said multiple times that you wish to save your Grand Soul Gems for more important purposes."

"This is important."

Kharjo was touched that she would consider his weapon important enough for such a Soul Gem.

It did not take long to enchant his mace - only a few minutes, which Kharjo filled by sorting out the food and supplies he had bought from Garyn and his wife Milore. When Zaliki came into the antechamber with his Steel mace, now faintly glowing red from the runes she had inscribed upon it, Kharjo couldn't help but smile.

Zaliki was a hero to most, but to him, a dear friend.

Yes, Raven Rock was a very nice place to live.

 **OOOOOO**

Most of these chapters will actually be from Kharjo's perspective, so while Zaliki - yes that is indeed the name I gave my Dragonborn character in-game - is the 'main' main character, she won't have much in the way of a POV.

Unless it's something that requires her POV, anyway.

But moving on, does anyone know a way to fix the aiming thing for the bows? I discovered I was suddenly shooting my arrows way to the right of where I actually wanted to hit, and I kept accidentally hitting things I didn't want to. Such as my companions. Luckily I have that Companion's Insight thing or whatever, from one of the Black Books, but still. I'd like to be able to aim properly again.

In case anyone suggests it, I'm not too keen on downloading a mod for it - just in case that makes it worse. Also, I basically don't care about mods.

I also did look this up on the internet and it seems that the only suggestions anyone else has are mods or just 'completely uninstall the game and then re-install it', which is something I really, _really_ don't wanna do. I fucking LOVE Zaliki, and Kharjo, and basically everyone in that game, and while I _have_ been considering creating a new character (an Argonian mage), I don't want to delete my very first character.

I'm hoping that the issue will fix itself next time I go to play the game, but if it doesn't, then I can't be an archer anymore . . .

Don't worry, though - even if I can't do archery-stuff in-game, the Zaliki in _TKaaD_ will still primarily be one. Mainly because that Stalhrim bow is _beautiful_.

Anyway.

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	2. New Companion

I think I mentioned in the last AN of the previous chapter that I kept hitting my companions, as in plural, which is something I wanted to explain in this chapter.

I won't give away any spoilers because damn do I love my second companion. Well, technically third, if you count my horse - and going by that logic, Kharjo was my second companion, my horse the first, and this new character I'm introducing is the third and final member of our merry band of weirdness.

Actually, you can probably tell who or what the third companion is just by looking at the name of this fic.

Oh, and in case anyone's wondering - unless specifically stated otherwise, Zaliki by default is wearing her Stalhrim light armour. The tavern clothes thing from the first chapter was basically just me writing in my favourite set of clothes, but normally I (and my character, by extension) wear the Stalhrim light armour.

I don't own _The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim_ , on with the show!

 **OOOOOO**

"Hah!" Kharjo shouted, throwing out his arms. "Take that, land of Skyrim! You afflict me with your despicable coldness no longer!"

Zaliki gave him a look that was half amusement and half exasperation.

"This one seems pleased," she commented.

"Of course," Kharjo agreed cheerfully, jumping down from the rock he had climbed onto to shout his happiness to the world. "This new armour you have gifted me with - it keeps out the cold _marvellously_!"

"That is Stalhrim ice," Zaliki said, looking him up and down. "It is also heavy armour. Zaliki will never understand how Kharjo moves with such ease."

"Because I, unlike you, have been trained in heavy armour," Kharjo replied with a shrug. "You were trained in light armour."

"Self-trained, mostly," Zaliki corrected him.

"Yes, self-trained. And very well-trained, may I add-"

Zaliki's ears suddenly pricked up and she fixed her gaze over Kharjo's shoulder. He unholstered his enchanted Steel mace and brought up his new Stalhrim shield, courtesy of the Skaal (his new armour was also from them, by request of Zaliki, a gift which he appreciated greatly), and spun around to face whatever it was that Zaliki had sensed.

"Dragon?" he asked, quickly scanning the skies, expecting a fire- or frost-breathing dragon to swoop down at any moment.

"No," Zaliki replied. "Dragon is not here. Something else is."

"What did you hear?" Kharjo asked her.

Zaliki, who for some reason had not yet pulled out her bow, came forward to stand at his shoulder.

"Laas," she whispered, and her eyes began to glow a faint and unsettling red.

Kharjo was used to this - it was one of her Dragonborn Shouts, or Whisper in this case, which she called the Aura Whisper. He stepped out of her line of sight so he would not impede her aura search.

After several moments, her eyes settled on something through the trees that Kharjo could not see.

"It is not hostile, maybe," she said. "Zaliki heard barking."

" . . . Barking," Kharjo said in disbelief. "I did not hear this."

"You were busy shouting about no more cold," his friend dismissed. Her eyes were no longer glowing, so her Aura Whisper had worn off already, and she started off in the direction she was looking.

Kharjo followed. He kept out his mace and shield, just in case - Zaliki had said there was no hostility, yes, but it was not that he didn't trust her. She had been wrong before and he needed to be certain.

They walked through the trees until they came to a dirt-coated clearing. Kharjo was surprised to see a large, ragged-looking dog wandering in circles, and as soon as it caught sight of them, it barked loudly and ran off in the opposite direction.

Zaliki took off after it, and Kharjo, though puzzled, raced after her.

The dog led them through the forest until they came to a shack that looked as though it needed desperate repairs. It had no door, so the dog bounded through and barked from inside, and Zaliki followed it again.

"Kharjo!" she called when she got inside. "Look!"

Kharjo decided that there wasn't any danger - mainly because it was a dog, of all things, and he had yet to meet a dog that had actually attacked him or Zaliki - and put away his mace and shield before going in after them.

The shack was just a single room, and there was a bed in the corner, with the dead body of a Nord lying on it. Kharjo's ears pricked up in interest. The dog had led them to a body? What was it trying to tell them? Perhaps the Nord had been murdered and the dog wanted them to get the killer. But maybe it was simpler than that.

Zaliki, while he had been studying the body, had decided to look around the small room that was the shack. She found food, still somewhat fresh - of course, the body had not decayed too much, so this Nord could not have been dead for long - and a ratty old book.

"Zaliki has found a book," Zaliki announced, holding it up to Kharjo. "Can this one read?"

Kharjo took the offered book and opened it. It turned out to be a journal of sorts, but only one page had been written on, and the rest were completely blank.

"Hm," Kharjo said thoughtfully. "It seems as though this Nord died of Rockjoint."

"Terrible way to die," Zaliki muttered, glancing at the Nord. The dog barked, as if agreeing with her.

"He writes of having no friends or family to mourn him, but also that he hopes Meeko will be well," Kharjo went on, continuing to read the journal. He glanced up as the dog stood up and barked a couple of times. "Meeko? Is that you, then?"

The dog - Meeko - barked again.

"Well, no murder investigation then," Kharjo said, closing the journal and handing it back to Zaliki, who peered at it for a moment and then pocketed it carefully.

"You thought he had been murdered?" Zaliki asked, looking at him curiously.

"Very often we have these type of quests," Kharjo replied. "Investigate something, solve a murder, whatever."

"True," his friend agreed. "Zaliki supposes Meeko wished someone to know of its master's demise."

"Meeko is male, according to the journal."

"Then Meeko wished someone to know of _his_ master's demise."

Meeko barked, and his tail started wagging. Presumably Zaliki's theory was correct, although Kharjo could not be certain how much a dog could understand. Oh, he knew these animals were far more intelligent than humans gave them credit for, but it was still mildly absurd to think that a dog could fully understand their language.

Zaliki reached out and patted Meeko's head, and then left the shack. Kharjo inclined his head in farewell and followed, but they had only gone several paces when they heard a bark behind them, and they turned around to see Meeko bounding after them.

He stopped before he crashed into Zaliki, and looked up at her, panting and wagging his tail happily.

Zaliki looked at him, and then at Kharjo.

"Does this one object to a pet?" she asked him.

"I do not," Kharjo answered, smiling.

Zaliki smiled back, briefly, and then crouched down to eye-level with Meeko.

"Does Meeko wish to come with us, then?" she asked the dog. Meeko barked twice, and Zaliki scratched his ear and stood up. "Then come, Meeko. We are a party of three, us adventurers."

"I feel that should be a song," Kharjo observed as they took off again, with Meeko now bouncing around them. " _A Party of Three_ , it could be called."

"Or a story," Zaliki said. " _Two Khajiit and a Dog_. An interesting tale, Zaliki thinks."

"That would be a very interesting tale indeed."

 **OOOOOO**

Yep, the second/third companion is Meeko the dog! While I was writing the first chapter, I still hadn't actually found him, but I did manage to find him and have him follow me about halfway through. I love both Meeko and Kharjo, it's really fun to have them around.

Little fact about how I actually found Meeko - I'd heard about him online a few days ago, and so I decided to try and find him. I looked around the area of the shack for a while, since it was easier to find that instead of Meeko, and I couldn't figure out where he was. I ended up wandering onto some marshland by accident, so I went back into the forest, and then I decided to use the Aura Whisper Shout to find him.

I did briefly mistake a fox for Meeko - you know, four-legged and dog-shaped aura - but eventually I did find the dog, and now I have a new companion!

Oh, and you guys remember that bow thing I was talking about last time? Turned out it was just a little glitch, cus now I can shoot perfectly fine again. Guess I was sort of panicking for no reason, which is actually a good thing since it means I won't have to uninstall _Skyrim_ and lose Zaliki, Kharjo and Meeko. Man, I love these guys.

Anyway.

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	3. Ghostly Presence

I'll write some actual quests at some point, in case anyone's wondering, but most of these will sort of be 'slice of life' type of chapters.

The reason? Well, why not?

It's funny to imagine some of the scenarios, and most of the time the quests are either questlines from the factions or whatever, or the main questline itself. Most of those would require an entire fic to write out, so mostly I'll be going for shorter quests or miscellaneous quests like bounties or whatever.

I actually like the bounty quests, even if the three from Whiterun seem to repeat over and over for some reason. But occasionally you'll get the odd 'kill this dragon or giant located at X' or something, and it'll be fun as hell.

I'll probably write about some bounties purely because of that. The tougher ones are more fun than, say, clearing out a cave of three or four weak-ass bandits who think it's okay to attack Meeko because he's there. Me and Kharjo say otherwise, assholes.

Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, the reason why this fic has an M rating is because there's gonna be swearing, graphic descriptions of death, and the usual stuff for _Skyrim_.

I don't own _The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim_ , on with the show!

 **OOOOOO**

Kharjo woke up to the sound of Meeko barking in the hallway and the ghost of Zaliki leaning over him.

"Zaliki has been killed!" she cried. "This one must avenge Zaliki! Hurry, before the killer escapes!"

Kharjo stared at her with wide eyes for several moments, before he sighed and slumped back in his bed.

"This stopped being effective days ago," he informed her, again. "I was there when you discovered that Become Ethereal Shout, also."

Zaliki rolled her eyes, and she slowly turned solid.

"You are no fun," she told him.

"And you have played the same trick for eight days straight," Kharjo retorted. "Do you think I would continue to react the same way?"

"Zaliki was hoping."

Kharjo could not help but laugh at that.

"And I suppose your 'killer' is no more than a training dummy, being sat on by Meeko in the hallway," Kharjo said.

"One of the mannequins, actually. Meeko finds those harder to rip apart."

Kharjo again laughed, and he threw back the covers of his bed and slipped out. Zaliki stepped back to allow him space to get up.

"It is a good way to wake up instantly, that I shall admit," Kharjo said. "Much better than you using your Unrelenting Force Shout."

"That was funny, but this is funnier," Zaliki agreed.

 **OOOOOO**

The plot of this chapter is basically 'Zaliki is a pranking dumbass'.

Meeko doesn't get featured much aside from that distant barking and a few mentions mainly because this is just focusing on the prank that Zaliki fails to pull on Kharjo.

I love that Become Ethereal Shout, even if it only works until I get attacked or I talk to someone. I just really like being a ghost for some reason.

Speaking of ghosts, has anyone done Arniel's questline? The one where he's trying to figure out why the Dwemer vanished? It's just the weirdest thing to complete, I swear. But I get a cool spell out of it, Summon Arniel's Shade, and I've heard that the Shade can actually heal you, which is something no other summon can do.

I only used it once, just to see how it works, but I kinda wanna try it again at some point - maybe during a battle or something.

Oh, speaking of summoning and stuff, does anyone know how to get the Dead Thrall spell(S)? I kinda want one if only to increase my party members' numbers, along with one of those atronach things. I only have the Flame one so far, but it only lasts for a minute and I want one of the big clunky ones because apparently those stay forever.

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